Every year, gadget companies like to flaunt out their latest flagship smartphones and show off all of the “revolutionary” features that will make this slab of glass and metal different from the nearly-identical looking slab of glass and metal already in our pockets.

An ex-con and his adopted brother are on the run from the authorities, an evil criminal, and enhanced soldiers. Outnumbered, the only way they’ll survive is by finding a mysterious, ancient weapon in Kin, an upcoming scifi film by Josh and Jonathan Baker.

Long before the Windows Phones we have today, there was another: the Kin. You may remember it...as being total garbage. Well now you can relive the horror with some previously unreleased videos WIRED dug up and watch Microsoft's own Kin testers recoiling in disgust.

We thought it was weird that Verizon oddly resurrected Kin after Microsoft killed it. It doesn't matter anymore because on January 31, 2011, Microsoft's Kin Studio, the cloud that the Kin relies on to work, will close. Verizon will even give you a free 3G phone to replace your Kin.

Microsoft's about to embark on a one billion dollar marketing adventure to support Kinect and Windows Phone 7. Good luck to them! Because as these past epically failed advertising efforts show, Microsoft could be about to waste a lotta of money if they're not careful with the creative:

Two years on from taking over Old Billy Gates' role, and Steve Ballmer's not doing too badly. WP7 has got people excited, and Windows 7 is actually being used. Yet, he got half the usual bonus last year.

Kin, we hardly knew ye. If you're overwhelmed with grief over the demise of Microsoft's smart-dumbphones, or maybe—just possibly—looking for one last chance to make fun of them, here's your chance. The elegies are already rolling in:

The sudden death of Kin came as a surprise, but it's increasingly clear that it shouldn't have. First came hints of internal strife stunting Kin before it ever had a chance, and now the finger's pointing directly at one man.

Theories abound as to the forces behind Kin's speedy demise. And yes, ultimately the plug got pulled because it wasn't selling well. But a theory over at ZDNet holds that spats between Microsoft's internal fiefdoms doomed Kin from the start.

If you're interested in either the Kin One or Kin Two and don't mind its expensive data plans, then you might as well get one now as Verizon has dropped their prices to $29 and $49, respectively. [CNET via Engadget]

Chipworks and iFixit teamed up to take a look beneath the Kin Two's black and lime exterior, finding some things that were expected, like the NVIDIA Tegra APX2600 processor, and some, like a Sony image sensor, that were, well, not.

Microsoft had told us that the Kin and Windows Phone 7 platforms would grow closer in the future, and under heat for the Kin's lack of, well, features, they've said it again. Microsoft's phone strategy is weird.